Gone with the flame

I had written this story while reading a great book, which sadly I cannot remember which one. A war had taken place and one of my favorite characters had died so I wrote this to express my sadness and also in memory of this fiction person that I had grown

 

I stood at the blackened hill, overlooking the valley. My dark eyes stared at the scene in front of me. Only hours ago, this field was a lush green. I could still hear the sound of clear trickling waters, laughing children, and singing birds. There were trees that reached to the skies above with their leafy arms. The wafting aromas of flowers had enveloped me as the sun warmed me to my heart. The sky had been the deepest of blue.

            In only a matter of hours, it had vastly changed. The once lush green grass was scorched by battle fire. The towering trees have been burned until they were just piles of burning ashes. The bodies of the dead lay scattered as numerous as the stars. The once pure waters are stained by flowing blood. The sounds that I had heard earlier have changed into moans of the dying and injured. The cruel stench of death reached to my nose. Even the sky, dark and clouded, seemed to have been stained red by the blood of war. The land had been destroyed by the fingers of war and I could do nothing about it.

            Tears fell from my eyes into the burned remains of grass under my boots. Running, I went to the fields, calling the names of my loved ones even though I knew deep down they will never answer. I searched, ignoring the slashes on my back and on my face. I finally found their bodies, or at least what remained of them. I fell to my knees and cried out in pain, to the world. My home, family, friends, even my enemies, gone. Gone like grains of sand in the desert wind. Never will I see the smiling faces of my loved ones. Never will I run among the waving grass, never bathe in the clear waters, never to even climb those trees. Gone, everything I had ever loved and knew, gone and never to return. I picked up the body of my sister, only to have it vanish at my touch. I buried my face into my bloody hands. I was alone, painfully alone. Alone in the middle of what remained of my home.

            Thunder rolled. I raised my face just as the first rainfall of spring fell. It washed my face, so cool and gentle. My tears mixed into droplets and the blood dyed the beads crimson. I looked around me. The fires that had been burning had disappeared. Even the stink of death changed to cool freshness. I saw the land before the darkness came. I saw the fresh rivers, green fields, towering trees, laughing children. As the image faded, a small smile crossed my face. It was quickly replaced with a determined stare.

After I buried my family and friends, I stood up. I closed my eyes for a few moments. I walked out of the field, without a look back and fighting back another tear. I gathered my few items and prepared to leave. Only when I had reached the hill did I glance back. I gazed back and I could see the face of my loved ones. Turning and touching the gem, the very jewel that caused all this to happen, at my neck, I left behind my past and looked to the future. I thought to myself as the battle-raged field melted away, When I master my magic and the Gem, I will stop wars. Once and for all.

Author's Note

Do you like this name or the following names? Gone like the Desert Wind or Gone in a Whisp of Flame

Reviews

[Leah Elisabeth]

I really enjoyed this. You have a way with words! This is so descriptive and it has the added bonus of beginning and ending well. The only thing is, this story absolutely cries out for you to do more with it. I can sense that there is a deeper story running beneath it. Feel free to let that out and then ask me to read it! I am really curious to see where you will take this. Well done!